Research Highlights

Ultrafast Chirality Switching in a Correlated CDW-Weyl Semimetal

Fluence-dependent photocurrents enable controlled transitions within (TaSe4)2I, shifting it sequentially from a polaronic state to a charge density wave (CDW) state, and ultimately to a concealed Weyl phase.

Tz emission data and polaron state illustration

Direct atomic manipulation of a buried graphene interface

Epitaxial graphene patterning platform is developed by using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). A local electric field controls the covalent C-Si bonds at the buried graphene – SiC interface, allowing their reversible breaking and formation.

Illustration of research diagrams related to the highlight.

Unconventional Superconductivity in Mineral Miassite Rh17S15

The mineral miassite, Rh17S15, is shown to be an unconventional superconductor with line nodes in the superconducting gap.

Design principles for polyethylene deconstruction

Scientists established mechanistic role of metal oxide support on the catalytic deconstruction of polyolefins under H2.

Reactive separations improve polymer upcycling

Reactive separation provides a complementary strategy to catalyst design to achieve selective conversion of polyolefins to upcycled liquids and avoiding the formation of light gases.

Chiral magnetic “particles” found in a kagome metal

Chiral excitations in the kagome layers of TbMn6Sn6, observed with inelastic neutron scattering (INS), behave like localized magnetic quasiparticles.

Surprising phase diagram of EuPd3S4 under pressure

Multiple, diverse high-pressure measurements were used to study the inhomogeneous mixed valence EuPd3S4. Under pressure, it exhibits an eight-fold increase of the Néel temperature followed by a structural transition to a lower symmetry structure that coincides with a transition to a fully non-magnetic state.

Understanding Rare Earth Element Adsorption

Theoretical exploration of solvation phenomena of bare rare-earth (RE) cations in room-temperature ionic-liquid (RTIL) to visualize the solvation mechanism of RE cations in RTIL at the molecular level.

Batch Scale Production of 3D Printed Extraction Sorbents

A cost-effective modification to a desktop resin 3D printer was demonstrated to produce polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) extraction devices.

Mechanistic Understanding of Rare-earth Element (REE) Capture

MCM-22 synthesis with varying Si:Al ratios is a model aluminosilicate for ytterbium (Yb) capture and also serves as a synthetic clay mimic to obtain in-depth mechanistic understanding of the capture.